Confusion To Be Easily Settled

[eyeoflayman]

I am currently slightly confused about what exactly I need to buy to have recording capabilities. I have narrowed down my condeser microphone search, and I am not confused on that part.

Regarding the computer hardware, I now realize (i think this is correct) that there is something called an Audio Interface and something else called an External Sound Card. Is this correct, are these two seperate items with different functions?

Currently I own a nice laptop (Acer 1.6 GHz, 496 MB Ram, etc), that I want to turn into a mini, moveable recording studio. Do I need an Audio Interface or an External Sound Card in order to be able to connect my microphone (the one I will soon have) to my computer to be able to record vocals over beats?
Do you have suggestions as to which piece of hardware (brand name, title, etc) I should strongly consider buying (bearing in mind I would like to spend under $100, if possible- if that can be done without sacraficing enormous amounts of quality)?

I realize I also need a preamp, so if you could suggest a Audio Interface (or External Sound Card, whichever one it is I need, hopefully you can shine some light on that slight predicement I have and let me know which of these items I need) that has a preamp already in it, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Regarding the computer hardware, I now realize (i think this is correct) that there is something called an Audio Interface and something else called an External Sound Card. Is this correct, are these two seperate items with different functions?

No, an audio interface is any device which contains analog to digital converters so an external soundcard is an audio interface.

You can get soundcards which fit into a PCI slot in a PC and just leave wires hanging out of the back but if you have a laptop you'll be wanting an external interface (which will be your audio interface) as you can't fit anything inside the machine. So firewire (preferrable) or USB (not so good) are your options.

How many channels do you need to record simultaneously? I use a PCI card so am loathe to make recommendations on external interfaces but the presonus firewire interfaces are getting a lot of good press. There's the firebox with 2 mic preamps built in or the firepod which has 8.

[LfO]

I'd just like to throw in my two cents - there's no problem with USB, as long as you aren't recording many channels simultaneously. Its all I've ever used, but I never record more than one stereo input at a time. If you're just recording one vocalist or instrument at a time, I wouldn't hesitate to got this route.

The cheapest option I can find with a brief search is this ($150):

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMOBILEPRE

Since you're using a consensor, you'll have to have phantom power, so make sure you don't accidentally buy something that doesn't, like this:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOFASTTRACK

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by eyeoflayman

Regarding the computer hardware, I now realize (i think this is correct) that there is something called an Audio Interface and something else called an External Sound Card. Is this correct, are these two seperate items with different functions?

I would contend that "external sound card" is a misnomer, and that no such beast exists. A card, by definition, is something that plugs into a slot inside your computer. External, by definition, means outside your computer....

The term "Audio Interface" is a superset of "sound card". Every sound card is an audio interface, but external audio interfaces are not sound cards, per se. Either way, they serve the same function.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by Kevin DeSchwazi

You can get soundcards which fit into a PCI slot in a PC and just leave wires hanging out of the back but if you have a laptop you'll be wanting an external interface (which will be your audio interface) as you can't fit anything inside the machine. So firewire (preferrable) or USB (not so good) are your options.

Well, you probably have a CardBus slot, so you could fit something "inside" the machine, but I wouldn't suggest it, since CardBus is in the process of being replaced by ExpressCard within the next couple of years (and thus a CardBus card probably won't work with whatever laptop you buy next).

However, if you don't have FireWire, and if you have a CarrdBus slot, you could get a CardBus FireWire card, which start at about $20 and go up from there, but pretty universally under $60. For that low a cost, even if you only use it with one machine, it's worth it to be able to use a FireWire interface over USB, IMHO.

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Well, you probably have a CardBus slot, so you could fit something "inside" the machine, but I wouldn't suggest it, since CardBus is in the process of being replaced by ExpressCard within the next couple of years (and thus a CardBus card probably won't work with whatever laptop you buy next).

However, if you don't have FireWire, and if you have a CarrdBus slot, you could get a CardBus FireWire card, which start at about $20 and go up from there, but pretty universally under $60. For that low a cost, even if you only use it with one machine, it's worth it to be able to use a FireWire interface over USB, IMHO.

Thanks for the correction.

I thought about the "external soundcard" thing and I agree but I didn't want to go into it for fear of confusing things.